In her gripping memoir, C.B. Haley recounts her journey from a university graduate into the underground world of stripping. Leaving Canada and her past behind, she travels to Australia, where she is drawn to the taboo. The author, who goes by the stage name Amber, finds herself seeking answers in the most unlikely places. In this memoir, she recalls encounters with the people she met along the way which prove that humanness knows no boundaries.
Exposed: Memoirs of an Exotic Dancer is an honest portrayal of the sex industry and follows the author through unexpected experiences while she searches for light, and comes out the other side.
Excerpt from Exposed:
Sex workers are not unlike any other employees. They offer a service, and people are willing to pay for that service. Some people want the simple physical aspect of it. Show them the bodies and they’re happy. Others, I learned through my own experience, want the company. They want a friend, a caring ear. These individuals are often completely unaware of the fact that you’re naked. Some men even pay for private dances just to ask that you sit rather than dance, keeping your clothes on. You might think this is the easiest money, and sometimes that’s the case. But not always. Sometimes people tell you really heartbreaking stories, and you become more of a therapist than anything else. This can be much more draining than the patrons who just want to see you move your body. Groups of partiers come in wanting to get wasted. Couples come in looking to spice up their sex lives and find passion they may have lost somewhere along the way. Every patron is different, and yet they’re all drawn to the same place.You cannot look at someone and know what their stories are. I’ve learned that this holds true for the person walking into a club just as much as it does for the dancers on stage.
Initially, C.B. Haley sought a publisher through the traditional route. Reaching out to agents who claimed to provide a platform for the underrepresented, she found that unfortunately, that didn’t include sex work. To her dismay, she found that the taboos existing within society permeate within the book publishing industry as well. Determined to tell her story, which provides a glimpse into life for an exotic dancer, she decided to self-publish her memoir.